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“He had a hoodie pulled up over his head and no one got a good look at him.” Jimmy scratched beneath one earflap. “The police are talking to people inside the arena and the surrounding businesses. Maybe someone saw something.” He put his hand beneath Lexie’s elbow to help her into the plane but dropped it a second later when his phone rang.
“Hello.” He paused and turned to Lexie. “Really? You’re telling me my scooter’s in front of Yum Yum’s Closet? Am I hearing you right?” That got her attention. “What the hell?” He shook his head. “How bad? Uh-huh. No shit? Right now?” He looked toward the parking lot. “Let me talk to him.”
Lexie’s gaze followed but she didn’t see anything but a few parked cars.
“That’s messed up . . . My driver already called the police . . . Okay. You owe me.”
Marie’s silver MINI Cooper screeched to a stop. The door opened, and first one long leg, then the other seemed to unfold from the little car. Then a whole man appeared and from within the car, Marie waved. The Cooper sped away, leaving behind Sean Knox in a dark blue sweat suit. He moved toward her, his footsteps a quick, steady thumping on the docks.
“What’s going on, Jimmy?” she wanted to know.
“Apparently, Sean is my scooter thief.”
Unable to take her eyes off the man walking toward her as if he was on a mission, she asked, “Why would he steal your Scooter Subs scooter?”
“I have no idea. He not only stole it—he wrecked it, too.”
With each step of his feet, her heart pounded a little harder in her chest. With each second, she feared she might pass out and had to remind herself to breathe. Then he stood before her, his hair and cheeks windblown. One of his eyes was glassy, the other black, and a grim line pulled at his mouth. With his gaze fixed on Lexie, he said, “Sorry about your scooter, Jimmy.”
“Not cool, man.”
“I’ll pay for the damages.” He swallowed, and Yum Yum stuck her head out the door and barked at him. “Can you give me a few minutes, Jimmy?”
“Is that okay with you, Lex?”
That almost got a smile out of her. What was Jimmy going to do if it wasn’t? Sean was taller and outweighed him by at least fifty pounds of pure muscle. “Yeah. It’s okay.” She glanced at the pilot as he turned to climb into his plane. “Thanks for asking, though.”
“I’ll be sitting here dealing with the scooter situation if you need me.”
“Did you talk to the press yet?” Sean wanted to know.
She turned toward him and shook her head. “The paper got the date wrong and very few people showed up.” A part of her, the part that wanted to throw herself at his chest, had been relieved that she hadn’t had to make the breakup announcement. The other part, the one that wanted to throw him in the lake, just wanted an end to the pain. She shook her head. “I’ll get ahold of Sylvia and tell her it’s over between us. She’ll be happy to get the first scoop.”
“What if I don’t want it to be over?”
Had he chased her down because he wanted to wait the two weeks as they’d planned? Was he that selfish? Mean? “Well, I told you that—”
“What if all I want is to be with you?”
“I can’t do—wait . . . Huh?”
He took her sunglasses from her eyes and put them in the pocket of his sweatpants. “What if I want all of you all of the time? Everything, for all the reasons on your made-up lists and some you haven’t thought up yet.” He paused and said, “I love you, Lexie. Not the fake kind. Not the love that looks good on paper. No sections and subsections and columns of bullet points.”
She wanted to believe her ears. With all of her heart. “Did KO threaten to put his stick up your butt again?” She folded her arms under her breasts. “Is that what this is about?”
“No.” He placed his hands on her elbows and looked into her eyes. “I’m not afraid of anything but you getting on that plane and Jimmy gunning the engine. I’m afraid that I’ve already blown my chance.” Then he pulled out the big guns and blew her away. “It’s only been two months. This sounds crazy. Hell, it is crazy. You said you see me. I see you, too, Lexie. I see all of you. I want all of you. I feel you so deep in my heart, there’s no way I can get you out again.” He paused, then added just above a whisper, “I don’t want to try.”
She bit the corner of her trembling lip. “You’re not afraid that it’s only been a few months and we haven’t spent enough time together?”
He shook his head. “Neither of us is going anywhere. We have all the time in the world.” He slid his hands across her shoulders to cup the sides of her neck. “I found a saying.”
“A what?”
His cheeks turned a little redder. “A romantic quote.”
“All on your own?”
“Yes, and it’s not cheesy like yours.”
